Carbonnade Beef and Beer Stew
When
the days are cold, dark, and damp, all we really want to do around here
is to curl up with a nice big pot of stew. Known as “Carbonnade a la
Flamande”, this Belgian beef stew is made with hearty Belgian ale and
plenty of onions. The flavor is a little sweet and sour, the sweet from
the onions and either a little added sugar or tomato paste, and the sour
from a touch of mustard or vinegar.
Since I first posted this recipe I’ve made a few adjustments to the recipe itself, and we’ve received several recommendations for which ale to use (check the comments). The general view is that you should try to use a Belgian ale for this stew. If you can’t find a Belgian ale, or a Belgian-style ale, you can try Newcastle Brown Ale or Anchor Steam (the last two recommended by Cooks Illustrated for their carbonnade).
We found a couple American ales made in the Belgian style at our local Whole Foods and for our most recent batch of stew used a bottle of Ommegang Abbey Ale. Apparently it is also traditional to include some beef liver with the stew. We passed on this, but if a stew exists that could hold up to the strong flavors of liver, this one would be it. Wonderfully hearty, flavorful, and filling.
Since I first posted this recipe I’ve made a few adjustments to the recipe itself, and we’ve received several recommendations for which ale to use (check the comments). The general view is that you should try to use a Belgian ale for this stew. If you can’t find a Belgian ale, or a Belgian-style ale, you can try Newcastle Brown Ale or Anchor Steam (the last two recommended by Cooks Illustrated for their carbonnade).
We found a couple American ales made in the Belgian style at our local Whole Foods and for our most recent batch of stew used a bottle of Ommegang Abbey Ale. Apparently it is also traditional to include some beef liver with the stew. We passed on this, but if a stew exists that could hold up to the strong flavors of liver, this one would be it. Wonderfully hearty, flavorful, and filling.
Carbonnade Beef and Beer Stew Recipe
You are trying to achieve a sweet and sour
flavor with this stew. So, you can swap out the sugar for tomato paste
and you can use cider vinegar instead of mustard if you want. You can
also brown the meat in vegetable oil instead of butter, though it will
be more flavorful with the butter. You can also use a couple slices of
bread, instead of adding flour, to thicken the stew.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 lbs chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 3 medium yellow onions sliced about 1/4 inch thick (about 8 cups)
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups chicken or beef broth
- 1 1/2 cups (12 oz bottle) Belgian beer
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
Method
1 Pat beef dry with paper towels, then season well with salt and pepper. On the stove top, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy bottomed dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot, almost smoking. Working in batches, brown the meat, without stirring, about 3 minutes on each side (do not stir, give the meat an opportunity to brown well). Transfer browned beef to a separate bowl.
2 Add 2 tablespoons butter to dutch oven; reduce heat to medium. Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon of salt; cook until onions are browned, about 15 minutes. Add flour and stir until onions are evenly coated and flour is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits; stir in beer, thyme, bay, browned beef with any of the accumulated juices, and salt and pepper to taste. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a full simmer. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, let cook for 2-3 hours until beef is fork tender. (Alternatively can cook in the oven at 300°F.) Stir occasionally, scraping up anything that is sticking to the bottom of the pan. About half an hour before it finishes cooking, add the mustard and brown sugar. Adjust seasonings to taste.
3 Discard thyme and bay leaf. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and serve. Can serve plain, with potatoes, over noodles, or over French fries.
Whatever ale you have used in the cooking makes for a great drink accompaniment to the stew.
For best flavor one needs (serves 4):
2 lbs of cheap beef with some fat (from the neck, NOT veal)
1 lb of beef liver, NOT veal
1 onion
1 and a half lbs of old WHITE bread (real bread, not Wonderbread)
1 bay leaf
1 branch of thyme
5 or more loaded tablespoons of real mustard
1 oz of salted butter (NOT oil)
Salt
Pepper
Beer as needed, provide for a gallon of it.
1 black cast iron skillet
1 black cast iron pot
Cut the meat in cubes NOT larger than 1x1x1 inch. Smaller is even better.
Sauté the meat and the onion in the butter, stirring the meat for abt 2-3 minutes, then dump everything in the large pot, seeing to it that all scrapings from the skillet are added.
Slice the bread and smear both sides of each slice LIBERALLY with good, strong mustard. Put all the bread with mustard on top of the meat.
Put in the bay leaf and thyme.
Cover the contents of the pot in 2 inches of beer. ANY beer will do, cheapest lager is well enough and stale beer is better.
Put the pot on, preferably, a gas burner so you can control the heat better.
Bring to a boil on a hot fire, stirring while scraping the bottom since this has a pronounced tendency to stick. Keep stirring for, say, 10 minutes BOILING BEER, then lower fire to a gentle simmer, but go stir and scrape regularly.
Add beer from time to time to keep the liquid level up. Depending on the meat, count with 2 – 4 hours of simmering, till meat is tender. During the last half hour or so of cooking stop adding beer so the sauce will reduce. Cook longer or less long if you want thinner or thicker sauce (some call it gravy).
DO NOT FORGET TO STIR AND SCRAPE THE BOTTOM REGULARLY !!!
NOW is the moment to decide !!!
Add salt and pepper to taste. AND, if you wish, add potatoes to boil in the gravy for that last half hour (dish is difficult to over-cook). With the potatoes in, you need much more salt, of course.
Without potatoes, it is a good idea to serve the meat and its gravy ON TOP of salted french fries. Or with anything else you like.
NOTE: the bread is what thickens the sauce or gravy. The bread will completely dissolve in the cooking.
If there is any burning, you need to transfer the contents to a new pot, without scraping the bottom of the pot. Then add more water. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat to the lowest setting possible and cook for as many hours longer as it takes to get the meat tender. Some meat just takes longer. But you don’t want to cook it at too high a temp either. You could put the whole thing in a slow-cooker at this point too. The fact that there was anything starting to burn, tells me that your heat setting was too high. There should be plenty of liquid that the meat is releasing in addition to the beer and stock